A semiconductor device fuse is installed in a wiring pattern to check the operation, etc., of a circuit at the wafer stage during the manufacture of a semiconductor device and to appropriately set and correct the circuit in accordance with the results, and operation of the circuit is prevented or a redundant circuit is operated by cutting part of the fuse.
Such a semiconductor device fuse is formed in a strip shape with a prescribed width, and in order to electrically cut the fuse, in general, it is partially thermally melted and evaporated by irradiating a laser beam at a prescribed position.
Such a laser beam irradiates the surface of the semiconductor substrate, however it is known that if a pulsed laser beam irradiates many fuses of a semiconductor device, the lower layer of the semiconductor device fuses is damaged at a prescribed rate. In such a case, if a semiconductor electric element is formed at the position directly under the semiconductor device fuses, the entire product is deteriorated.
According to the conventional technique, when many semiconductor device fuses installed in the semiconductor device, they are arranged together in one fuse region, and no semiconductor electric element is formed under each semiconductor device fuse, which is an ineffective region. Thus, even in case damage occurs, the generation of an inferior product is prevented, and the cutting workability of the semiconductor device fuses is improved.
However, recently, along with improvements in the degree of integration of semiconductor devices, the internal circuit has been made larger in scale and complicated, and the number of semiconductor device fuses required to set and correct the circuit has also increased. On the other hand, since the size of semiconductor device fuses is determined by the spot diameter of a laser beam and the precision of an irradiated position, the circuit cannot be reduced to smaller scale, and the ineffective region generated in the above-mentioned conventional technique increases to the degree that it cannot be ignored.
The present invention considers the above-mentioned problems, and its objective is to provide a semiconductor device fuse, which can form an electrical element and an interlayer wiring film without damaging its lower layer when it is cut by irradiation with a laser beam.